Black
by Roman-son-of-Truth
Summary: Artemis is back in the game of crime, but he's been gone for too long, and new crime lords have taken charge. Artemis is in far too deep now, even his family is being threatened. Black Mail is a dangerous thing mixed with crime. AxM some HxT
1. Threat

Butler had checked every place on the block, and it appeared as though all protective installments had already been made. If Butler weren't sure of it, he'd say that he'd gone back in time to secure these devices for Artemis' protection. The two had a meeting with a long time responder and ally of Artemis'. The unfortunate thing about this person was, that they hadn't the first clue who he or she was. It sounded sketchy in the first place, but now they had planned to meet in Vienna, and that was so very far from Artemis' mainland. A trap was bound to be set. Butler could feel it in his bones.

Vienna, Austria.

Vienna was cold most of the year, but in mid January, it was almost unbearably so. Artemis held a long English coat tighter to himself in the chill, black hair drifting around his mis-matched eyes in a snowy wind. They stepped into the warm café, causing many a customer to draw his coat closer and away from the new snowdrift. Butler immediately gestured to the farthest table where a single woman sat. Her hair was short and black with spikes in the back and long side-parted bangs. As the pair neared her, Artemis made note of an authentic and very expensive looking imperial Russian coat and a flawless face that looked as young as fifteen. Her pale bony fingers were wrapped around a steaming cup of tea and a pair of black leather gloves sat next to a handcrafted chessboard. Artemis and Butler sat themselves opposite the porcelain faced young woman whose lips twitched as though she were suppressing a smile. Her eyes were a pale green that kept the Irish teen, much to his personal dismay, very distracted. She made the first move, letting one thin hand fall from the cup, and land on a piece. She moved it to a different square on the board.

"Your move." Her voice was clearly an Austrian accent. "Perhaps the great Artemis Fowl is not as clever as he claims to be." She said at his momentary lapse of evaluation. Her quirky smile was obvious now. Artemis made his move expertly.

"Your move." He smiled wickedly. "And yes, I am as clever as they say."

"And modest as well." She complimented in a sarcastic tone. Her laugh sounded a bit off, but he couldn't be sure. She made her next move.

The jibes and snide comments went on for almost three and a half hours, and the game progressed throughout. This girl was proving to be a most worthy adversary. In a very complicated move, she took three of Artemis' pieces.

"Check Mate." She said with smug satisfaction. "By the way, Happy Birthday." She slipped a candy Cane from her coat pocket and set it gently next to the chessboard. Retrieving her leather gloves, she slipped them on and lithely rose from her seat.

"Arrivederci, Master Fowl." She said in flawless Italian, leaving the café in a flurry of snow.

Artemis sat, dumbfounded. Butler consulted his phone.

"Artemis, your parents need you home soon. We need to hurry."

"For some ridiculous celebration, no doubt. I would rather miss it all together."

"I think you father is quite excited to know that you can drink now." Butler said, amused. Artemis wrinkled his nose.

"Perish the thought, Butler! Physically, I am only fifteen, and though my father is sure that I just appear younger than I am, I am not. I cannot even imagine what something as intoxicating as Irish whisky would do to me. Could you imagine? Disgusting." He scoffed and slid his leather gloves on. "Shall we, old friend? I mine as well get this whole 'eighteenth Birthday' celebration over with. We all know it is an excuse for my mother to have the hose displayed to the public and my father to boast with new straight and narrow business partners." He flicked a few strands of raven coloured hair out of his eyes and pressed on through the snow.

That meeting was an utter waste of time." Artemis whined, flicking a hand in the air to emphasize his statement. A teacup was held in his other by a single slight finger.

"I intended to make ends meet with this woman but, alas, to no avail. She's been a worthy adversary for many a year, but she seemed to lack in something this evening. I just wish I knew her name." He mused. Butler smiled mischievously. "Oh. Be reasonable, Butler." Artemis commanded, swinging a book at Butler. Very uncharacteristic of him, he would have to stop that.

Upon arrival at Fowl Manor, Artemis was greeted by the two twins, Emmett and Riley, both clad in suits.

"Oh joy." Artemis muttered sarcastically, heading for the stairs. The two boys had hardly been the nascence that Artemis had expected of the three year olds. Emmett was very capable of manipulating any language he read, even if he'd never heard of read it before, and Artemis found himself testing the boy often. Riley was quite an artist. Paintings, though mediocre for monumental standards, were phenomenal on any average child's account. Riley also played several instruments and had created the architectural design of a Fowl Industries building that was going up in Dublin by the time he was seven.

As Artemis reached his office, his computer alerted him to e-mail. Said e-mail was from the woman with whom he had just met with. He opened the video feed, nothing out of the ordinary. She smiled brightly at him.

"It has been an honor working with you, Artemis Fowl, but I know about it. All of it. I want it. You have ten days, Artemis Fowl, or you can bid you humble abode and family adieu."

_By the way, if you are wondering, I gave Artemis my birthday. I didn't know what his birthday was, so I made it up. It's January Eleventh. _

_Roman_


	2. Bonds

_A/N: If you couldn't tell from my other stories, I've been debating Trouble's appearance. It never actually describes him in appearance in the books. I think I like this one though. The Brown hair and eyes just seems to dull to be a character adored by all the girls. He should look more like a pretty boy without being a pretty boy. Do ya get what I'm saying? _

Trouble Kelp was a well renowned officer of the LEP with a set of Commander's acorns and an abundance of respect from the council and his fellow officers. At the moment, he was locked if fierce battle…with the top right drawer of his desk, which was jammed yet again. An inconspicuous Major Short stood in the doorway, trying her dearest not to laugh at her friend's expense.

"War wages on, eh Trouble?" She asked, finding it impossible to hold her laughter any longer. He shot up and smacked his head against his desk, yelping in pain as he did so. He sat up, rubbing his blond head.

"Smooth." He regarded her with vast blue eyes and smiled sheepishly as he shook his head to relieve the burning sensation on the back of his head.

"What's up, Major?" He asked.

"Nothing really. I was on break and figured I'd come and see why you were ducked under your desk. Is the drawer jammed again?"

"Yeah. It was fine this evening, but now it's stuck. My phone is in there and it keeps ringing. I think something might be wrong with my family, but I can't get it."

"How do you know it's a family thing?" Holly asked walking around to stand by Trouble.

"Set ring tones. It's my dad, and he knows I'm at work. He wouldn't normally call."

"I think I can help. Julius had such a time with this drawer. He used to stash all of the most important stuff in this drawer because he knew no other officer could get into it. He never even thought about me." She smirked wickedly before sinking to her knees in front of the drawer. She lifted the handle, shifted the drawer to the right, then slammed it as hard as she could. With a slight tug, the drawer slid open with ease.

"Y'know… I hate you." He said as she smiled smugly at him. His phone rang again. "Dad?" Trouble answered, worry in his eyes. After a few nods, 'ah-hmms' and a rake of fingers through his blond hair (which was a very bad habit), Trouble hung up.

"Holly… I don't know why, but someone is holding my family hostage. I need to get down there." He got to his feet and gathered his coat. "Tell Verbil that I need the files on the Brugden case completed and on my desk by tomorrow."

"Verbil isn't here, but I'll have Gavis call him." Gavis was Holly's 'Receptionist' so to speak.

"Why can't you?"

"I'm going with you, of course."

"No. I can do this alone. It's my family." Holly put her hands on her hips and gave him a very, 'Are you really serious?' expression. _(Little Authors note: I based this expression solely on my fiancé.)_

"With all do respect, Commander, no you can't. You're a good officer, but you're not that good. Gods only know how many people are there poised against you."

"Which is exactly why you aren't coming."

"You can't stop me, Trouble, you should know this by now." Holly stood in his way. If you didn't know the two of them before seeing this, you'd be sure that it would not take much for Trouble to push Holly out of the way. However, Trouble would never push Holly at all, and Holly was, in reality, plenty strong enough to take him on.

"Fine." He sighed in defeat. "But I'm driving."

"Epitome"

"E-P-I-T-O-M-E, Epitome, meaning the ideal example of, or a brief description of written works, from the Greek." Replied the five-year-old at Artemis' shoulder. Though Artemis had black hair like his father's, his brothers had deep red hair like Angeline's. Even though the two looked nothing alike, they were still brothers. Apart from that, they were quite a sight to see walking along the grassy dunes near Dublin harbor.

The twins had taken an immediate liking to their lost older brother from the moment of his return. Perhaps this is because of his attitude towards businessmen that came around to speak to his father. His blatant disrespect for all of them left him many angry glares form those left in his wake, and a gain of admiration from the twins. The twins were smart, and he knew this from very early on. Emmett was a multi-lingual genius. He could pull apart every sentence you uttered without a moment's pause. He knew every meaning of every word known to any language or dialect. He knew the origin of words coming from Greek or Latin background, and what words they originated from. Needless to say, he spoke them all fluently, including Greek and Latin. In contrast, Riley was an artist. Nothing phenomenal on internationally renowned standards yet, but sheer brilliance for a child. He was a craftsman, as well as a musician. Artemis was neither. He knew the components of the piano, but he could never compose a symphony. He assumed that this was why he, in turn, admired them so.

"Very good." He nodded to his brother, who's red hair was slick and stuck around his sharp face from the rain that soaked their trousers through from the dewy grass. Before he could propose another word, Artemis' phone rang. He answered it immediately.

"Yes, Butler? Yes. Very Good. Thank-You, Butler." He hung up and held his hand out to his brother, a smile spreading across his face. This was not his usual vampire smile; it was more sincere, more innocent. It was the smile you gave to ease a squalling child, or a prideful smile of an older brother. "Come on, let's go home. Mother wants us dressed and ready when the first of the guests arrive for the Christmas party." Emmett took his older brother's hand, and they started off towards Fowl Manor, the mid day sun freeing itself from the clouds to cast a golden shimmer on the dew of the green field. Emmett took off running toward the manor, laughing. Artemis smiled and ran after him up to the manor as a black car pulled into the drive. Seated in the back was a young woman with blond curls and full pouting lips. Her displeasure to see the young man who was dashing up the drive after his brother was almost incredible. She did not believe it of herself, but she felt that his mind would only give him the arrogance of any other man. As they came to a stop, little Beau clambered over Minerva's lap and jumped out.

"Emmett!" He called, running over. Emmett stopped and Artemis slowed to a halt, his hands on his knees. Emmett and Beau immediately fell deep into conversation in French as they walked away into the house. Monsieur Paradizo approached Artemis brightly.

"Artemis Fowl. 'Ow are you?" He beamed. His English still sounded very French, but Artemis had spoken to him before. His daughter had been someone he wished to see again, but she seemed to always be far to busy.

"Good evening, Monsieur. I hope that your daughter has taken time from her busy schedule to come tonight." He said, straightening. Gaspard sighed as his new wife came to his side.

"So do I, Artemis. So do I." He sighed again, then regained his poise and turned to enter the house. Artemis followed, knowing that he was quite a sight to see after running in the dewy fields of Ireland. If he were to hold his composure, he would have to be presentable soon.


	3. Important

Hello, everyone. I thought that if you liked Black so far, you will have to fallow it in a revised version called Loch Ness. This is a story about the main crime lord wanting what they had originally threatened the Fowl family for. Now they are also after the myth of the Loch Ness Monster. This truly gives you a completely different view on the myth itself. It's complex, it's surprising, and it will be great! I'm throwing in some things that might be rated mature for stickler parents, but nothing major. There are not any nude scene type things, but there is a lot of violence. Enjoy!

Roman Tynann


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